The one thing I want to put on here for someone who may be thinking of going to swifts training program is make sure you have financial backup. My husband is currently employed with swift I will not bad mouth them because we did research and knew what to expect, but after one layoff and another company just up and shutting their doors one morning we felt this was the best way for my husband to change his class B license to a class A and get driving experience. Honestly the eperience has been what we expected and had seen reported the good and the bad, EXCEPT the amount of time invested I dont think has been stressed enough. My husband spoke to the recruiter 4/7/08 got everything needed to begin training but all classes were full until 5/14 ok can deal with that had alittle saving and my job to tide us over during the waiting time and the training which we knew was unpaid, once completing the classroom/range training it was 1 week before he could get into orientation and he thought get assigned a mentor, well it was another week after orientation before he got assigned with a mentor because "they were short mentors and the needed to get the out of town students out first" so my husband and 2 other local men where last on the list because swift didnt have to pay hotel expenses for them. He finally got his mentor a great guy that taught my husband alot and really did care about his training not doubling his income by pushing his students. No, the pay while out with the mentor is not great, but again we knew what to expect beforehand and figured any pay is better then no pay when your unemployeed. Now to the point I want to stress to anyone thinking of doing this. KNOW you have about 2-3 more months of savings or incoming income for AFTER finishing with the mentor. It was 6 weeks to the day after returning with his mentor that swift had an available truck for him and his partner since he opted to be a team driver. He has now been out on the road for 2 weeks, and so far swift has been great in keeping them in loads and very little down time, EXCEPT even though he is now on the east coast and part of a team it was little 400-500 mile trips that got them there, so they only ended up with about 1000 for this upcoming paycheck which after taxes and the advance he took we will get $13.13 deposited for our bills here at home. Looking on the employee website for his pending trips pay next week doesnt look much differant. IF I CAN STRESS NOTHING MORE THEN THIS HAVE FINANCIAL BACKUP! We did for a few months but not the 5 that today marks from the time my husband first talked to the recruiter. We thought we were realistic and knew he would not be getting $800 a week but thought to start may at least be comparable to the pay he got while out with the mentor. And we are not greedy whiney people, but in trying to better our lifes and avoid working for anymore companys that cant withstand todays economy and gas prices we felt this was the best choice for us. I just wish we would have known we were looking at about 6 months before he got a paycheck that could just get groceries much less help my income catch up the bills we are now behind on. Again not badmouthing swift after researching I dont think any company that you have to attend their training is any differant, and my husband has had great trainers, mentor and DM it just wasnt stressed enough that you could be looking at 6 months before getting any type of paycheck, I feel bad that after 2 weeks out on the road away from his family to help support his family, that in his words his paycheck "wont even buy you guys a pizza"
Have backup or no bills to worry about if you are going to go this route! You will probably have your training loan paid off sooner then you will get a paycheck that helps with bills.
Newhereaz
chandler, Arizona
U.S.A.
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